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Green Line Station Designed by Local Firm 4RM+ULA African American Architects with Deep Rondo Roots

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Owners of the architectural firm 4RM+ULA, located in Lowertown Saint Paul, believe the METRO Green Line has revived University Avenue and Saint Paul.

“There is something awesome about feeling that you are connected again,” said the firm’s founder, James Garrett Jr.

Architects James Garrett Junior (left) and Nathan Johnson designed the METRO Green Line stations. Their firm, 4RM+ULA, is located in Lowertown Saint Paul.

Architects James Garrett Junior (left) and Nathan Johnson designed the METRO Green Line stations. Their firm, 4RM+ULA, is located in Lowertown Saint Paul.

Garrett, who grew up on Saint Paul’s East Side and then in the Rondo neighborhood, remembers when Saint Paul seemed vacant. “When I went to school in Saint Paul, University Avenue was pretty much given up for dead,” said Garrett. “The METRO Green Line project added a whole bunch of energy to the area.”

The local architect said that one of his favorite things about the project was watching the construction.

“I couldn’t get enough of driving up and down University Avenue and seeing the construction,” said Garrett. “After having worked on it for several years and actually seeing the structures go up, just driving down University and seeing steel framework going up made me realize this is real and this is really happening.”

Green Line station design was ‘fun and challenging’

Garrett and his partner at 4RM+ULA, Nathan Johnson, designed the stations along the Green Line.  They started working with Metro Transit in 2007 – their first transit project.

“The whole project was fun and challenging,” said Johnson. Johnson said they visited each station along the Green line and spent quality time with each station’s artists.

“It was really interesting meeting the artists and seeing how they approached representation of their station/platform,” said Johnson. Read more…

“Community Engagement Matters: Stories of Success”

Mark your calendar! Wednesday, March 26th from 9:00am to 11:00am at First Lutheran Church, 463 Maria Avenue, St. Paul, MN (community building)

Join the momentum generated at the Knight/Nexus Forum on Community Engagement by participating in the first of a series of conversations on critical issues related to community engagement. Hosted by Nexus and our Build the Field partners – Casa de Esperanza, Cultural Wellness Center, Hope Community, Lyndale Neighborhood Association, and Native American Community Development Institute. These gatherings will continue throughout 2014, so stay tuned.

Please register by emailing Janice Barbee at janicegwb@yahoo.com

Hope to see you there!

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“Nexus Community Partners believes that a competitive and inclusive region is one in which members of all racial, ethnic and income groups have opportunities to live and work in all parts of the region; have access to living wage jobs; and equitably benefit from local and regional opportunities.”

Click here to read more (Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Newsletter 2014; page 4).

Metropolitan Council Chair Susan Haigh, in her annual State of the Region address, challenged the Council and all its partners in the Twin Cities metro area to address the significant disparities in school achievement, employment and poverty between the region’s people of color and its white population. read more

Nexus is proud to acknowledge and commend the work of our former intern, Ashley James, on her excellent work in the Alameda County Assets Network in Oakland, California!

After graduating from the Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, Ashley completed her internship with Nexus Community Partners and the Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities in the summer of 2013, and moved to Oakland, CA, to lead the below initiative with the California Asset Building Coalition. Congratulations, Ashley, on all your hard work! We look forward to hearing many more good things in your future!

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Alameda County Assets Network Releases Consumer Education Tool

The Alameda County Community Asset Network (AC CAN), a countywide asset-building coalition in the San Francisco Bay Area, just released a new toolkit that is a financial education curriculum with a community consciousness. The toolkit uses popular education to develop critical thinking skills regarding the long-term cost and community impact of predatory financial products and services. Toolkit participants become more informed consumers, keeping more money in their pockets and in local communities. It was recently awarded the 2013 Innovation Award from the California Asset Building Coalition, who found it this year’s most promising strategy to reduce poverty.

Click here to explore the Toolkit.

By Neeraj Mehta and Nelima Sitati

For some, the dominant storyline in the Twin Cities is that we are a vibrant and healthy place. We frequently make “top 10” lists of places to live because of our numerous social and economic assets. We are highly educated, mostly healthy and home to dozens of Fortune 100 and 500 companies. But for all the Twin Cities successes, one can point to real problems as well. The region benefits from numerous assets, but it continues to be unable to translate these benefits to everyone, specifically to communities of color. This truth is becoming more widely known and accepted in the Twin Cities, as report after report shines light on the numerous racial disparities in our region. Read more here.

The Boards and Commissions Leadership Institute (BCLI) fellows began training in October, and are well on their way to becoming placed on city boards and commissions in the Twin Cities (four are already seated). The fellows will work to ensure that the rights of people of color and underrepresented communities are honored through policies made at the local level. As LeMoine LaPointe said, the fellows will not be changing this region alone, and we recognize that the BCLI is only one strategy being implemented in the racial equity movement in the Twin Cities.

LeMoine LaPointe

As part of the BCLI Thursday Night Issue Series, Nexus partners with local organizations and leaders to highlight other strategies and initiatives in the local equity movement. This month we are highlighting the use of cooperatives in building wealth in communities of color in the Twin Cities.

Join us this Thursday to hear how these four leaders of color are using the cooperative business model as a strategy to advance equity in our communities:

We hope to see you this Thursday to explore this one strategy of community wealth building, and look forward to learning together as we move forward!

All Thursday Night Issue Series are free and open to the public. This event is being held this Thursday, December 5, 2013, from 5:30-8pm at Hope Community Inc – RSVP here.

For more information about the event or the BCLI, contact the program associate, Ms. Angie Brown, at abrown@nexuscp.org, or the program director, Ms. Terri Thao, at tthao@nexuscp.org.

Nexus Community Partners, and the Community Engagement Team (CET) of the Corridors of Opportunity are pleased to announce the availability of a 3rd round of CET funding.  Attached please find the guidelines and application for the Capacity grants. Applications are due on Friday, November 29th at 4:00 PM. We will be hosting an informational session at Nexus Community Partners, 2314 University Ave, St. Paul, MN 55114 on Wednesday, October 30th from 9:30-10:30 am.

Please note that only those organizations that have NOT received  CET funding in the past are eligible to apply for the capacity building grants.  Also, please be aware that there is a limited amount of funding available. The maximum grant amount is $10,000 and there will be approximately 5-7 grants awarded.

Round 3 Capacity Grant Application Final round 3 Capacity Grant Application Guidelines FINAL

Round 3 Capacity Grant Application Final

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and Nexus Community Partners present the Community Engagement Forum.

Community engagement is a foundational component for all community development and community building work. Come to an interactive forum with funders, government officials, community residents, and community organizations to share your experience and learn together about the value of community engagement.

Thursday, October 3, 2013, 8:30 AM – 4:00 PM

CEF